GB Relay Disappointments in Tokyo

In one of the final articles on the Tokyo 2025, Stuart Weir expresses his consternation on the lack of medals from Team GB relay teams in the 20th World Championships. Stuart Weir is the RBR Senior Writer for Europe, and covered the Tokyo event remotely. We missed Stuart in Tokyo 2025, and look forward to seeing him in the Commonwealth Games and European Outdoors in 2026. 

Relay disappointments

Relays are important to Team GB.  UKA targets them. UKA pours money into them.  This year UK Athletics through the National Lottery money for sport funded 23 British athletes specifically for relays – in addition to those funded for individual events. At the Paris Olympics team GB medaled in all five relays – 4 bronze and a silver.  In Tokyo not a single relay medal. At the 2023 Worlds GB gained three medals and in 2022 two medals. But how do you go from 5 medals in Paris to zero a year later?  That is a question that the Federation needs to address and quickly. The management of the relay program needs to be held to account.

My question: ‘how do you go from 5 medals in Paris to zero a year later’ doesn’t even do justice to the what happened in Tokyo. The women’s 4X400 which took bronze in Paris finished eighth as in last in the prelim. How can than have happened? The men’s 4 by 100 failed to finish in the prelim, messing up the final baton change.  Of course that can happen to anyone under pressure but in a prelim with all the times they have practiced? The Mixed team was fifth and the men’s 4X400 sixth – neither close to a medal.  The women’s 4 by 100 were fourth – but in Paris they were second and just one hesitant change-over from gold.

Some of the athlete comments bothered me.  Dina Asher-Smith’s comment “There is never going to be disappointment because these ladies are absolutely fantastic and we all absolutely gave it our all”, troubled me.  I know that Dina always speaks very circumspectly and unemotionally but I would have liked her to have expressed disappointed that they had failed to the expected medal!

I was surprised to hear a British athlete, funded for relay, complain  after the individual event that their performance had been hindered by having to run the mixed relay.  But surely that is what they are funded for and was also the greater medal opportunity.  Bemused again.

You can ask questions like what would have happened if the Men’s 4X400 had had a fully fit Matt Hudson-Smith?  You can say that the women’s 4X400 team lacked 2 of the quartet that had run a national record in Paris.  It would have been stronger in the final with Amber Anning but the 4 who ran were surely good enough to get a top 3 qualifying position.

To fail to achieve even one medal.  Only to get three teams in the final was, for me, beyond disappointing. GB probably puts more money into relays than any other country. Where did it all go wrong?

Since 2015, Stuart Weir has written for RunBlogRun. He attends about 20 events a year including all most global championships and Diamond Leagues. He enjoys finding the quirky and obscure story.

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